Squalene synthetase is a microsomal enzyme which catalyzes the reductive dimerization of two molecules of farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) in the presence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (reduced form) (NADPH) to form squalene (Poulter, C. D.; Rilling, H. C., in "Biosynthesis of Isoprenoid Compounds", Vol. I, Chapter 8, pp. 413-441, J. Wiley and Sons, 1981 and references therein). This enzyme is the first committed step of the de novo cholesterol biosynthetic pathway. The selective inhibition of this step should allow the essential pathways to isopentenyl tRNA, ubiquinone, and dolichol to proceed unimpeded. Squalene synthetase, along with HMG-CoA reductase has been shown to be down-regulated by receptor mediated LDL uptake (Faust, J. R.; Goldstein, J. L.; Brown, M. S. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 1979, 76, 5018-5022), lending credence to the proposal that inhibiting squalene synthetase will lead to an up-regulation of LDL receptor levels, as has been demonstrated for HMG-CoA reductase, and thus ultimately should be useful for the treatment and prevention of hypercholesterolemia and atheroschlerosis.
One approach to inhibitors of squalene synthetase is to design analogs of the substrate FPP. It is clear from the literature that the pyrophosphate moiety is essential for binding to the enzyme. However, such pyrophosphates are unsuitable as components of pharmacological agents due to their chemical and enzymatic liability towards allylic C-O cleavage, as well as their susceptibility to metabolism by phosphatases.
P. Ortiz de Montellano et al in J. Med. Chem., 1977, 20, 243-249 describe the preparation of a series of substituted terpenoid pyrophosphate (Table A), and have shown these to be competitive inhibitors of the squalene synthetase enzyme. These substances retain the unstable allylic pyrosphosphate moiety of FPP.
TABLE A ______________________________________ ##STR2## No. X Y Z ______________________________________ 1 CH.sub.3 CH.sub.3 H 2 H H H 3 C.sub.2 H.sub.5 H H 4 I H H 5 H I H 6 CH.sub.3 H SCH.sub.3 ______________________________________
Corey and Volante, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1976, 98, 1291-3, have prepared FPP analog A and presqualene pyrophosphate (PSQ-PP) analog B as inhibitors of squalene biosynthesis. (Presqualene pyrophosphate is an intermediate in the conversion of FPP to squalene). These inhibitors possess methylene groups in place of the allylic oxygen moiety of FPP and PSQ-PP, but still retain the chemically and enzymatically unstable pyrophosphate linkage. ##STR3##
Poulter and co-workers have prepared cyclopropane C (Sandifer, R. M., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1982, 104, 7376-8) which in the presence of inorganic pyrophosphate is an intermediate analog inhibitor of the enzyme squalene synthetase. ##STR4##
Altman and co-workers, Bertolino, A., et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1978, 530, 17-23, reported that farnesyl amine and related derivatives D inhibit squalene synthetase, but provide evidence that this inhibition is non-specific and probably related to membrane disruption. ##STR5##